Madonna ecstatic over adoption ruling

NEW YORK, June 15 (UPI) -- U.S. pop star Madonna said she is "ecstatic" an appeals court in Malawi has approved her request to adopt a little girl from an orphanage in the country.

The singer's application to adopt Chifundo "Mercy" James -- who has alternately been reported as 3 and 4 years old -- was initially denied because Madonna did not meet Malawi's residency requirements.

The judge hearing the case said granting the celebrity the adoption could possibly open the door for human trafficking.

However, Madonna appealed the ruling and was told Friday her adoption petition had been granted. The appeals court said the first judge hearing the case did not take into consideration the divorced star's commitment to helping disadvantaged children when she made her decision.

"I am extremely grateful for the Supreme Court's ruling on my application to adopt Mercy James," Madonna Monday told Usmagazine.com via her spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg.

"I am ecstatic. My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her," added the 50-year-old recording artist and mother of three other children.

"(Mercy's) passport is already being prepared -- we're not going to pause this over the weekend," a senior-level government insider told the magazine's Web site. "Madonna and Mercy should be together by Wednesday."